KARNS CITY — Talk about opportunistic.

Brookville took advantage of two wild bounces and cashed in on its two best scoring chances Tuesday night as the Bulldogs netted a 2-1 upset win over Karns City in the District 9 Class AAgirls soccer playoffs.

The loss ended the Gremlins' streak of nine consecutive district championships.

"This is tough on these girls ... very emotional," Karns City coach Lisa Castiglione said. "For this to happen to these seniors after the success they've had ... it's hard."

Karns City (16-5-1) defeated Brookville 2-1 and 4-0 during the regular season. The Gremlins grabbed a 1-0 lead with 21:36 left in the first half Tuesday when Allyson Kepple took advantage of some Brookville confusion.

The ball was deflected to the right of Bulldogs goalkeeper Janelle Mescall, who hesitated to retrieve the ball with a defender standing in the vicinity.

Kepple took advantage of the loose ball and knocked it into the net.

Karns City nearly extended its lead twice in the first half. Julieanne Scott drilled a shot off the football crossbar, just above the net with 15:55 left before intermission.

Michelle Sweeney got off a clean shot from 12 yards out that Mescall made a lunging save on three minutes later.

Brookville managed only one shot on goal during the first half. The Gremlins had six shots and four corner kicks in the first 40 minutes.

The Bulldogs (15-5-1)took their first corner kick of the night with 35:57 left in the game — and scored off it. Jordan Mason took the corner kick and the ball was deflected into KCgoalkeeper Alaina Burns.

Burns had trouble controlling the bounce. As the ball caromed behind her, Brookville's Kate Reinsel tapped it into the net to pull her team even.

The game-deciding goal occurred seven minutes later in a similar fashion. when the Bulldogs' Amanda Ruffner bounced a shot toward the net that caromed off Burns' hands and trickled into the net.

"It gets damp out there and those new soccer balls get slick and greasy,"Brookville coach Jim Confer said. "It's hard to get a handle on it sometimes."

Castiglione agreed.

"This time of year, the feel for the ball changes,"she said. "The weather had a lot to do with those goals. Whether you're playing on turf or grass, the air temperature makes the ball slippery."

The Gremlins still had chances to get even. Moments after Brookville tied the game, in fact, Sweeney drilled a shot right into goalkeeper Mescall from point-blank range.

With less than three minutes remaining, Sweeney rolled a shot just wide of the net. With 1:25 to go, Kepple hooked a shot off the crossbar.

"Sometimes the ball just doesn't bounce your way,"Castiglione said. "We didn't have any breakdowns in this game. We controlled the play most of the night.

"It's just that our shots either were right at the goalkeeper, just wide or off the crossbar."

Karns City had a 10-6 edge in shots on goal and took six corner kicks to Brookville's two.

Confer said his team learned from its first two games against Karns City.

"Their strength is up the middle,"he said. "We didn't play to their power. We took it to the outside and it paid off."

Not so for Karns City.

Kepple scored 28 goals this season. Sweeney netted 23 and Scott 22. All three are seniors.

"It's going to be hard to replace talent like that. I don't even think you can,"Castiglione said. "They are tremendous players."

Brookville plays Elk County Catholic (20-2) for the district title at 6 p.m. Thursday at Clarion University.